What makes an alcoholic beverage a beer?

yeast malts hops water = beer

 

It's still beer.

 

from Webster:

beer


noun \ˈbir\
: an alcoholic drink made from malt and flavored with hops

: a drink made from roots or other parts of plants

 

Though beer was not always made with hops...

 

http://www.ttb.gov/rulings/2008-3.pdf

Section 5052(a) of the IRC (26 U.S.C. 5052(a)) defines the term “beer,” for purposes of Chapter 51, as “beer, ale, porter, stout, and other similar fermented beverages (including saké or similar products) of any name or description containing one-half of 1 percent or more of alcohol by volume, brewed or produced from malt, wholly or in part, or from any substitute therefor.” Essentially the same definition appears in the TTB regulations at 27 CFR 25.11. In addition, with reference to what may be a substitute for malt, § 25.15(a) of the TTB regulations (27 CFR 25.15(a)) states that “[o]nly rice, grain of any kind, bran, glucose, sugar, and molasses are substitutes for malt.”

“Beer” versus “Malt Beverage”
As indicated above, the definition of a “beer” under the IRC differs from the definition of a “malt beverage” under the FAA Act in several significant respects. First, the IRC does not require beer to be ferment ed from malted barley; instead, a beer maybe brewed or produced from malt or “from any substitute therefor.” Second, the IRC does not require the use of hops in the production of beer. Third, the definition of “beer” in the IRC provides that the product must contain one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, whereas there is no minimum alcohol content for a “malt beverage” under the FAA Act.

Accordingly, a fermented beverage that is brewed from a substitute for malt (such as rice or corn) but without any malted barley may constitute a “beer” under the IRC but does not fall within the definition of a “ malt beverage” under the FAA Act. Similarly, a fermented beverage that is not brewed with hops may fall within the IRC definition of “beer” but also falls outside of the definition of a “malt beverage” under the FAA Act.